Restructuring English and Society through an Integrated Curriculum: Ruth Mary Weeks's A Correlated Curriculum

Abstract

Some scholars trace the start of writing across the curriculum to the 1970s. However, in 1929, when appointed president of the National Council of Teachers of English, Ruth Mary Weeks initiated A Correlated Curriculum (1936), a significant interdisciplinary project that specifically viewed English as the mechanism for achieving an integrated curriculum. Although her goal was not fully realized, Weeks's efforts are important in their attempts to open education to broader classes of students, to promote learning as a collaborative process, to prepare all students to meet the demands of transforming social and industrial circumstances, and, ultimately, to restructure industrial America.

Notes

¹I thank RR reviewers Lyneé Gaillet and Catherine Hobbs for their perceptive and helpful revision suggestions. I also thank Glen McClish for his encouragement and willingness to read earlier versions of this paper.

²See Byers for an interesting examination of Weeks's teaching philosophy. Russell and Applebee also briefly mention Weeks's efforts; I build on Russell's insightful analysis by providing a more in-depth investigation. I extend Cruikshank's analysis of A Correlated Curriculum within the field of education by investigating how Weeks's social philosophy shaped her ideas and by considering her efforts within composition and rhetoric.

³In mentioning Weeks's role in the report, my intention is not to give her credit for all aspects of the document. In my analysis I focus on those pedagogical ideas that she discusses both in the report and in related articles.